DIA Awards for the Wie is de Mol? app and The Story of the Netherlands Podwalk app

Almere - June 3, 2022 - Digital agency Elements from Almere has won 2 Dutch Interactive Awards. Together with AVROTROS, Elements developed the popular Wie is de Mol? app, used each year by 1 million Molloten. In collaboration with production company Tuvalu Media and broadcaster NTR, Elements developed the Podwalk app for the television series ‘The Story of the Netherlands’. In the Community category, the Wie is de Mol? app won silver. The Podwalk app took home a golden DIA award in the Content category.

Elements scores twice at the DIA Awards

In collaboration with production company Tuvalu Media and broadcaster NTR, Elements developed the Podwalk app for the television series ‘The Story of the Netherlands’. The app won a golden DIA in the Content category. The Podwalks in the app are GPS-controlled audio tours at ten unique locations, allowing walkers to step into the past. These locations are linked to a story from Dutch history, which is central to the series. During the walk, Daan Schuurmans, the narrator of the documentary series, tells the historical story exactly where it took place. 

An unprecedented new digital format

Theun Termijtelen, executive producer of the series: “The app quickly proved to be a success: after the third episode of ‘The Story of the Netherlands’, the app reached the magic milestone of 100,000 downloads and many people had already walked the routes past historic sites. It is unprecedented and unique for this to happen with a new format. The great thing is that the app remains relevant even after the series has ended. This has created a sustainable, long-tail digital platform suitable for multiple applications.”

The jury sees this case as a new way of consuming content. From the jury report:

This walking app encourages the Netherlands to go out and explore. A very beautiful and innovative way to bring history closer and to life. The way mobile phones are used – by deliberately keeping them in your pocket – creates an optimal experience of the surroundings and has been executed extremely well: in effect, the radio play reinvented. 

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As little screen interaction as possible

Ingrid Walschots, format developer & editor-in-chief at NTR, explains: “To make the Podwalk experience as intense as possible, we wanted an app that required as little screen interaction as possible. Essentially, you should be able to activate a starting point, put your phone in your pocket, and not have to touch it again. That way, the story truly comes to life.”

“The routes are mapped along specific GPS points that activate when you are actually there. A great ambition, but the request to ‘develop an app that you have to put in your pocket’ is not usual for us. After all, on location you have to deal with all kinds of unhappy flows, such as points on the route that cannot be reached. We had to handle that intelligently during development”, says Erwin van der Put of Elements. 

Theun continues: “Another challenge was that the content had to be central in the app. It creates the experience and substance, so users of the app look at their surroundings through the right lens. This means, on the one hand, that the story you hear really has to draw you into history, but on the other hand, that the audio tracks also had to be timed precisely so you hear the content in the right place.”

Dutch Interactive Awards expert jury quote
In terms of innovation, this is an exceptionally strong entry that offers a new, multisensory experience. There is also room for growth: there is demand for more routes, and a Podwalk platform could emerge, creating an entirely new podcast category. The Podwalk app is therefore this year’s most innovative content case.

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Dutch Interactive Awards expert jury: In terms of innovation, this is an exceptionally strong entry that offers a new, multisensory experience. There is also room for growth: there is demand for more routes, and a Podwalk platform could emerge, creating an entirely new podcast category. The Podwalk app is therefore this year’s most innovative content case.

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Room for further development

Ingrid Walschots of NTR concludes: “We were already honored by the nomination and are very pleased with the win. The recognition for a new digital format that aligns with the needs of Dutch people feels good. Podwalkers are active and learn something new at the same time. It does not stop here; we are now working on developing new ideas within the Podwalk format.” 

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AVROTROS and Elements score at the Dutch Interactive Awards

One of the most popular reality game shows on Dutch television is AVROTROS’s annual hit “Wie is de Mol?”. The program attracts an average of 2.5 million viewers per episode. For the 2021 season and upcoming seasons, Elements worked closely with the broadcaster to develop the new app, with strong interactive features and a scalable back end to support more than 1 million users.

The Wie is de Mol? app remains immensely popular

Rosanne Willems, online project manager at AVROTROS, is ultimately responsible for Wie is de Mol?’s online strategy: “The strength of the Wie is de Mol? app is that it can be explained in one sentence. The app has 1 million users, which means that almost half of viewers are an active part of the online community and play along with dedication.”

“Every season, we build new features that improve the quality and engagement of the app. Last season, users could already easily share scores with one another, and in this year’s app, group winners received a badge and users could congratulate each other on winning their pool. Of the total number of users, 27% installed the app through this share feature.”

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Dutch Interactive Awards expert jury: The app connects a large group of active TV viewers. Viewers use it actively. The makers also manage to reach age groups across the full breadth in serious numbers. It is admirable how much the app adds to the TV program.

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User experience at a high level

“Our goal is to make the popular program even more attractive to viewers, with more points of contact and genuine interactivity. The app needs to be a powerful companion to the broadcast and to the post-show discussion on Moltalk. The data on who the audience suspects is the Mole, also known as ‘Molvisie’, is then used again as a discussion topic in Moltalk”, says Rosanne.

Erwin van Hasselt, Managing Director of Elements, adds: “The optimal experience naturally lies in a strong concept and a good app, but the back end is crucial for engagement and user experience. The calculations must not go wrong, and new scores must be shown in real time once it is known who leaves in an episode. To absorb these major peak loads, a fully optimized and scalable back-end platform is needed.”

“A crucial moment is at the end of every broadcast on Saturday evening. Once it is known which candidate leaves, the scores of all 982,000 participants and 325,000 pools have to be calculated, and users are notified via push notifications. The seamlessness and speed with which this happens strongly contributes to the unique experience that Wie is de Mol? has had for years.”

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It is unique in the world of TV for an app to provide direct input to a live TV program. The jury also explicitly gives extra praise to the agency that has made this product so well for four years. In summary: connecting fans has succeeded. It is a step toward a closer and more tightly engaged user community.

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A unique digital connection between fans and Wie is de Mol?

Rosanne Willems is extremely pleased with the win: “The ability to create pools with family and friends, send invites to acquaintances, use Molvisie and suspicions in the follow-up program Moltalk, and send push notifications to Molloten all create a unique digital connection between fans and the program.”

“The back end is combined with a dashboard that allows us to monitor real-time statistics about users and app performance. During the season, we use the data from these dashboards every week to improve the app,” Willems concludes.

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